After eight years punctuated by construction delays and a superstorm or two, a new $2.8 million park opened alongside River Road on Monday, Oct. 6. Located two-thirds on property owned by North Bergen and the rest in Guttenberg, the joint venture includes a playground, picnic areas, grassy knolls, a direct view of Upper Manhattan across the river, and a semicircular amphitheater.
“This park is a testament to persistence, cooperation, and a little bit of luck,” said Guttenberg Mayor Gerald Drasheff, who first dreamed up the multi-municipality project. “It shows you what can be done when different branches of government work together to accomplish what we’ve really all been elected for, which is to serve all of our residents.”
“No money came from the taxpayers of the communities,” said North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco. “It was developed right, it was planned right, and it took a while.”
“This park is a testament to persistence, cooperation, and a little bit of luck.” –Gerald Drasheff
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Development or parkland?
The project began with plans for a much smaller park alongside the river. “Guttenberg [officials] were the first ones to take a look at this area and decide to forgo development, which was already planned, to build a park,” said Sacco. “And they opened up discussions with us and we looked at it.”
“We then turned around and gave up our plans for development because we felt the need on the waterfront was for a park, for people to come to enjoy the views and the area,” he said.
“Guttenberg by themselves just had this little strip of land. You could have done something, but when [Drasheff] approached us, we said this is where the development side has to forgo something,” said Chris Pianese, the town administrator for North Bergen. “You gotta give something back to preserve the view. It was a perfect spot. And let me tell you, we gave up what could have been another 75 to 100 units easily. We’re always trying to balance between keeping taxes stable by bringing in development and doing this when we need to.”
Shared services
For years the site was the location of two unsightly pyramids of sand, carted in to compact the ground below. When construction began in earnest, piledrivers unexpectedly hit rock about 30 feet below the surface, according to Rob Zecca of Z-Tech Contracting, resulting in delays as plans were revised.
A few other minor changes were implemented, including beefing up the structures on the lighting posts to meet public service requirements and swapping out the planned fencing along the river for black metal railings to match the rest of River Walk.
“This becomes the link along the river between Guttenberg and North Bergen,” said Vincent Prieto, speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, about the extension to River Walk. “It’s a great thing when you see communities working together. Hudson County has been a leader in shared services, like with the North Hudson Regional Fire Department.”
Policing of the park will be shared between the municipalities of Guttenberg and North Bergen, with the sheriff’s department patroling as well. “There are two surveillance cameras in the park and there’s a third one up on the Boulevard that looks down on the park,” said Drasheff. “Those cameras are on 24/7. They are monitoring the activities down here and they are sent both to the Guttenberg Police Department and the North Bergen Police Department.”
Still to be determined are the exact uses of the amphitheater. Bands and other performers can easily play at the location, but the problem is parking. Only a limited number of spots are available in the park.
“We may have to find ways to bus people down from other parking areas or close half the road on times when it’s not overly busy so traffic will be one lane each way,” said Sacco. Other options are being considered as well, including accessing parking from neighboring facilities. “By next summer or spring we should have these things beginning to work out.”
For now, the park is a beautiful new passive space for rest, recreation, and enjoyment. As Drasheff stated, “Guttenberg didn’t have a place where kids can take off their shoes and run in the grass. Well now you have a spot.”
Also among the attendees at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were State Assemblywoman Angelica Jimenez, Hudson County Sheriff Frank Schillari, Guttenberg Council Members Alfonso Caso, Donna Florio, and John Habermann, North Bergen Commissioners Hugo Cabrera and Allen Pascual, and Freeholder nominee Anthony Vainieri.
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.